Gerry McCann is to travel to Washington tomorrow for three days of meetings with US politicians. He is hoping to meet President Bush’s wife, Laura.The visit is part of the couple’s campaign to keep their daughter’s name in the headlines, but also to raise awareness about all missing and abducted children. In Washington Gerry will visit the National and International Centres for Missing and Exploited Children. The centres were set up after the kidnap and murder of six-year-old Adam Walsh, who was killed after being snatched from a department store in Florida in 1981.
The case led to a major review of child abduction cases in America, which now has some of the most advanced procedures in the world. Last year President Bush signed a new bill introducing a national paedophile database and harsher penalties for child sex offenders.
Cardiologist Mr McCann said: “We want to work closely with the police and child welfare agencies in maintaining the profile of Madeleine’s and other children’s disappearance. We hope our efforts will help make the world a little bit safer for all children. Kate and I believe there is a strong, public feeling that crimes against children, wherever they may occur, are totally unacceptable.” (Daily Express)
